Use Student Ambassadors to Connect Stakeholders and Promote Participation

• Guide Overview
• General Guidelines for Creating the Student Ambassador Program
• Recruit Student Ambassadors
• Designate Duties and Tasks
• Promote the Pathify Portal
• Encourage Feedback
• Additional Types of Ambassadors to Consider

• Recruit 3-5 Student Ambassadors
• Schedule Student Ambassadors to work 3-5 hours per week
• Plan for at least 1 semester or 3 consecutive months of the program
• Consider Fall and Spring semester as the best time to have Student Ambassadors actively participating
• Ensure Student Ambassadors receive training on all functions of the Pathify platform

• Post the position as an internship if funds are unavailable.
• Reach out to mentor programs at the institution and ask program coordinators to share the Student Ambassador opportunity with mentors.
• Utilize an institution's SGA (Student Government Association) program by having an SGA advertise the Student Ambassador position through their channels for communication.
• Advertise the Student Ambassador position directly in a Pathify Group.
• Contact an Advising department for recommendations of students who are interested in being involved in promoting the institution and helping students.

Consider the following tasks:

• Post as the school mascot in groups that have large student populations
• Post content (polls, images, questions, relevant anecdotes) in a group
• Reply to unanswered student posts in a group (or contact appropriate staff member to respond)
• "Like" student posts in a group (that have not been previously "liked")
• Direct misplaced posts to more appropriate groups
• Check for system bugs by testing features on the Pathify platform
• Contribute ideas for the types of posts that might be engaging

• Words of encouragement or gratitude
• Student polls with questions relevant to institution experience
• Institution news and events

• Groups should be institution- and student-centered
• Student Ambassadors should receive Group Admin training

• Encourage Student Ambassadors to regularly share feedback
• Encourage Student Ambassadors to meet with our Product team for user testing sessions
• Encourage Student Ambassadors to meet with our Marketing team for persona and message development

The above meetings are generally less than 1 hour and serve as a valuable use of time and resources.

• Prospective Student Ambassadors

Connecting prospective students to current students or alumni is often considered a best practice.  Through the use of personas, schools can train or counsel current or past students as Ambassadors to prospective students. Once trained, these Ambassadors can answer questions, pose threaded discussions, or connect people considering attendance at the school to the right resource or person.  This may include similar comments to Pathify Student Ambassadors or be different based on the workflow of the Admissions team.

• Faculty Ambassadors

Helping faculty acclimate to the Pathify system is a sure way to get more students using the platform as well.  Some institutions leverage Faculty Ambassadors, even giving service credit to faculty who are willing to help other faculty find their way around the platform.  As well, these Ambassadors can help manage or simply be members of groups such as Faculty Forum, Interdisciplinary Research, Faculty Senate, or more.  

• Administrative Ambassadors

Asking a high-ranking executive to spend a day or a week or potentially a month being more “present” for students, faculty, and staff can produce big wins for campus connectivity.  Creating a group such as “Ask the President” or “Conversations with the Provost” can be very informative and may actually act as a barometer for culture and satisfaction. Setting up rules and clear directions around these group types (“The President will respond to questions and comments every Wednesday by noon…”) can produce culture boosting communication that should be considered.